Membership Information

Membership Category:
Research Scientists

Member Since: 2011

Silvia Martins, MD, PhD

Education

Ph.D., University of São Paulo, Brazil
M.D., Federal University of Paraná, Brazil

Research Statement

I am currently a research faculty member of the Drug Dependence Epidemiology group at the Department of Mental Health (DMH). My current research includes NIDA-NIH funded studies to investigate trends in nonmedical prescription opioid use and opioid use disorder in the U.S. populations well as their association with psychiatric disorders and the investigation of factors associated with nonmedical prescription drug use, abuse and dependence among adolescents in the U.S. I am also a PI on a NICHD-NIH funded study to investigate childhood predictors of young adult gambling and gambling problems in African-Americans in Baltimore, using data collected in the JHU-PRC Cohort 3 study. Recently, I just finished writing a book chapter on disparities in psychiatric disorders (in press) with a strong focus on racial/ethnic disparities, including Hispanics. Besides working with my Hopkins colleagues I also collaborate with researchers from other institutions such as Michigan State University, Columbia University, University of Michigan, University of São Paulo, Brazil, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil and American University of Beirut, Lebanon. I also co-mentor pre-doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows at Johns Hopkins and collaborate with students and fellows in other institutions in the US and in Brazil. I believe my line of research is relevant for the NHSN’s mission and that by becoming a NHSN member I will be able to delve into research projects and develop research protocols that further investigate issues important to the epidemiology of substance use, abuse and dependence, gambling and psychiatric epidemiology among Hispanics in the U.S and abroad. In the next 10 years I plan to expand my current lines of research to examine nonmedical prescription drug use and disorders in data from other countries, including South America, as a collaborator on data analyses of the World Mental Health Surveys (RO1 grant proposal submitted in October 2010, P.I., Jim Anthony). In regards to research on gambling, I plan to continue collecting gambling data on the JHU PRC Cohort 3 population until they reach mid-adulthood to later evaluate the impact of the legalization of gambling venues in Maryland on the prevalence of gambling and problem gambling in this population and, expand this research to examine gambling habits of Hispanics. I also plan to further investigate nonmedical prescription drug use and abuse/dependence among Hispanic young adults (RO1 grant proposal submitted in June 2011, P.I., Silvia Martins). Finally, an important focus of my work will be to strengthen collaborations with substance abuse epidemiology researchers in Brazil and other Latin-American countries.